


The Clockwork City's Best-Kept Secret

by TonalModulator



Series: Clockwork Consort [3]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Napping, accidentally secret relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 01:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19263253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonalModulator/pseuds/TonalModulator
Summary: Sotha Sil doesn't always mean to be mysterious. Sometimes it just happens.Or, Sotha Sil and Divayth Fyr have been dating for a couple thousand years, and they assumed everyone knew (everyone did not know).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi this is literally my first fanfic ever. I don't even usually write at all, but ESO keeps giving us characters with so much potential and so little explored story! So this is my first attempt at creating more story. Maybe there will be more someday? Who knows!
> 
> Also I have a headcanon that Sil and Divayth talk to each other in Chimeris a lot of the time, and that Sil is practically a different person when speaking Chimeris because he gets to let his guard down and drop his "clockwork god" style. So you'll see some of that switching in here.

"Lord Seht, do you have a moment?"

Sotha Sil opened his eyes and took stock of the situation. He must have fallen asleep. He blinked and glanced around, coming back into the present, and smiled when his gaze landed on Divayth, who was still sleeping next to him, lying on his arm. According to his internal chronometer it was mid-afternoon. They had been asleep for almost an hour. Sil was surprised; he hadn't even felt tired. He made a mental note to recalibrate his energy tracking function at the next opportunity.

"Lord Seht, are you there?" the voice of Proctor Luciana at the door brought him back to reality and caused Divayth to stir slightly. Sil quickly—but _quietly_ —set up a sound barrier by the door and projected his own voice and hearing to the other side of it.

"Luciana. How can I help you?"

"Is everything all right? You sound strange."

"Everything is fine," Sil replied, trying his best not to sound like he just woke up. "Do you need something?"

"Well, some Apostles from your planar transportation research project ran into a problem and were wondering if you'd be willing to lend your expertise, but if it's a bad time I'm sure—"

"I would be delighted to help. I will...be out in a moment."

Sil paused to determine the best course of action. He knew that Divayth slept almost as infrequently as he did, and that Divayth was a mortal who needed it much more. Any motions, then, had to be very smooth and very, very quiet.

With precision meriting his title, he released the latches connecting his right arm to his shoulder, and then propped the upper arm up on a pillow to simulate the support it provided when it was attached to him. Then he slowly levitated off the bed and over to the mirror, where he took a moment to neaten his robe and tie back his hair and unused sleeve. When he was satisfied, he teleported to the other side of the door.

"I'm sorry if I...woke you? Do you sleep?" asked Luciana.

"On occasion," he said, willing himself not to yawn as he began walking toward the lab.

"Uh, Lord Seht? Are you...forgetting something?" she asked.

Sil turned back toward her with a quizzical look. His cognitive functions still seemed to be a little behind.

She motioned toward his right side. "You seem to have fewer arms than usual."

"Ah. No, that was not an oversight," he said as he started walking again. "You are familiar, I'm sure, with the most solemn law of Morrowind that one who has a bantam guar sleeping on their lap may not, under any circumstances, move?"

Luciana stared dryly and made no attempt to humor him.

He continued, "I found myself in a similar situation, only instead of bantam guar asleep on my lap, there was a mer asleep on my arm. I determined that the law still applied, even if I had to attend to my duties elsewhere. So, naturally, I removed my arm."

Luciana had several questions. A mer? Asleep with Sotha Sil? As in, _sleeping with_ him? Was one of the other Tribunes in town? She of all people would be the first to know of any divine visitors to the City, right? Plus, he wouldn't just call them something so mortal as "a mer." So who could he possibly be talking about?

Before she could ask any of her questions, they arrived at the lab and Sotha Sil became occupied by the florid greetings of the research assistants eager to please their god-mentor, which quickly turned to a discussion of the research at hand.

"Don't think you're off the hook, Seht," Luciana said quietly.

"Pardon me, sera," said a voice to her side.

She turned to see an Apostle under her command. "Report."

"I was unable to find Lord Fyr. The logs indicate that he is in the City, but any further detail requires a higher security clearance."

Luciana sighed. What could that difficult old mage be up to this time? She thanked and dismissed the Apostle, and then flagged down the nearest factotum.

"Greetings, Proctor Luciana Pullo," said the robotic voice.

"Where is Divayth Fyr?" she asked.

"Reflecting...reflecting...Divayth Fyr is in the Brass Fortress."

She sighed again. "Could you be more specific?"

"Reflecting...Negative. Higher security clearance required."

"But his location is in the system?"

"Affirmative."

"Good. Dispatch the factotum closest to his location to tell him—with my authority—that he's needed in the planar transportation lab."

"Reflecting...fish pond...warm breeze...Factotum dispatched. Do you require any more assistance, Proctor?"

"That will be all."

Luciana returned to her post near the door, running through a mental list of all the things Fyr might have done to block her access to his location. Her musings were interrupted after a few minutes, when he half-walked, half-stumbled into the lab. He was quite a sight: hair down, wobbly gait, yawning, and carrying a large clockwork arm. Her eyes grew wide as the figurative gears clicked into place.

"What a strange experience it is to be woken up by a very persistent factotum to find myself lying on your arm, with the rest of you nowhere to be found," Divayth said loudly as he approached the table where Sotha Sil and the Clockwork Apostles were working, as if it was his way of announcing his arrival. He unceremoniously handed the arm back to Sil and added at a more normal volume, "Though I do appreciate the...gesture, so to speak."

"Not exactly feeling subtle today, I see," Sil said in Chimeris, his expression one of mild amusement. He took the arm back and began re-attaching it.

"Too tired for subtlety. I hope that's all right," he replied, also in Chimeris, leaning partly against the table and partly against Sil.

Sil smiled and put his arm around Divayth in response. "Just don't tell Ayem. She'd _hate_ for people to know that even the Tribunal need sleep."

"So, what are we working on?" Divayth addressed the table, switching back to Dunmeris.

No one answered. The Apostles all seemed to be speechless, their expressions covering the spectrum from surprise to awe.

Divayth sighed. "Yes, yes, I'm Divayth Fyr, wizard-lord of Tel Fyr and the greatest mage in Tamriel...Final...Anuvanna'si. No offense, Sil."

When still no one answered, Sil spoke, with a hint of gentle teasing in his voice. "Perhaps the first thing to do would be to tie your hair back, Lord Fyr; you're in an active lab."

Divayth rolled his eyes. "I would have, but _someone_ didn't even have the decency to leave me the arm that had my hair tie on its wrist."

Sil raised an eyebrow and twirled his finger in the air, tying Divayth's hair back into a ponytail with a strand of magic. "'Greatest mage in Tamriel' my—"

"You're speaking Dunmeris," Divayth interjected in Chimeris.

Sil coughed and let that sentence trail off.

They turned back to face the Apostles, who were staring with even more shock than before. Sil finally decided to address the kagouti in the room. "Really, I think those who have been in a relationship for millennia should be allowed to display affection once in a while."

 _Millennia?_ Luciana had heard enough. She marched up to the table, drew her hammer and thumped it on the ground to demand their attention. Sil instinctively readied a defensive spell, remembering how the last time she drew her hammer on him, she had every intention of using it.

"You two," she said, pointing the hammer at Sotha Sil and Divayth in turn. "My office. _Now._ "


	2. Chapter 2

Luciana peered across the desk at her detainees: a ridiculously tall clockwork god and a Telvanni wizard-lord, sitting in front of her like two schoolchildren who had been called down to the principal's office. _If I had a sense of humor, I would probably be laughing,_ she thought.

She studied them for a few moments longer, not even sure where to begin. Finally, she pointed to Divayth and asked Sil, " _Him?_ Divayth Fyr? The self-proclaimed destabilizing influence on the Clockwork City? _That's_ your bantam guar?"

Sil nodded cautiously, unsure if Luciana was looking for a proper answer.

"'Bantam guar?'" Divayth repeated, looking to Sil for an explanation.

Luciana continued before Sil could say anything. "How long has this been going on?"

"Since we were students in the College of Psijics," Sil said.

Divayth nodded. "Back when we were young Chimer and Artaeum was just another Summerset Isle."

"Literally millennia. Unbelievable." Luciana shook her head. "And in all the centuries that I've been here, you never once thought to mention it?"

"Haven't I?" Sil thought about it for a moment. "No, I suppose I haven't. Interesting."

"I thought it was common knowledge," Divayth said.

"As did I. It should be," Sil said.

Divayth nudged Sil and said in Chimeris, "We should make a public announcement where you can name me your Clockwork Consort." Sil laughed as Divayth continued, "Make it a whole ceremony. Ayem can preside over it; she'd love that. And Vehk can write it into hir Thirty-Eighth Sermon."

"Hey, lovebirds," Luciana said, interrupting their giggling. "We're not done here."

They quieted down and returned their attention to their interrogator.

"Lord Seht. Every single time Fyr has come to the City, I have threatened him for one reason or another. Why didn't you stop me?"

"I assumed you were making a point of treating him like anyone else, or, if anything, that you were being especially tough on him because you care."

"Of course I care, even if that wasn't exactly my reasoning." She turned her gaze on Divayth. "Well, Fyr, you'd better start appreciating all my threats, because from now on, they'll be out of respect for your boyfriend."

Sil gave him a sheepish smile and mouthed, "Sorry."

Luciana drew her hammer one more time and pointed it at Divayth. "And if you _ever_ hurt him, you will have to deal with me. Do you understand?"

Divayth nodded, any levity having vanished from his face. He and Luciana may not exactly be friends, but he certainly respected her enough to take that threat seriously.

"Good," she said, putting away her hammer. "You two are free to go."


End file.
